I just ordered the micro tom seeds-- would like to trade for your baby bubba okra seeds thanks!

I'm going to grow Yellow Doll watermelon in a 15-20 gallon pot this summer, along with Windsor Hybrid Patio pumpkin which is a small 4-5" pumpkin not only for decoration, but for pies as well. Also plant to grow beans, cukes, eggplant, squash and tomatoes in my containers/grow bags. Grow bags are cheap and you can find various sizes at Worm's Way online. They have small size up to 20 gallon. I got most of my seed, except for Little Lucy and Baby Bubba Okra, at Swallowtail Garden Seeds. Good luck and have fun! Susan

Hey Tom: Thanks for posting the link to this thread. Very helpful indeed, and your garden is gorgeous, healthy and thriving. I must get some cattle panel--wonder how I'm going to fit it in my Mini Cooper! I've also had good luck making our Serious Tomato Cages using cow fencing. Finally, we have mater cages that are tall enough and strong enough to actually support the heirloom tomatoes that get over 8 feet tall. It's fun to think of and share creative ways to use products like cattle panel for the garden, isn't it? What else have folks used that works well? Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Cowlick Cottage Farm

Larry and Dawn, thank you both for the responses - as always, so much good information and helpful ideas! Sorry I didn't respond sooner - sometimes I don't get an email when I get a reply even though I check the box (or thought I did?) I'm starting to get the hang of trellising this year - I have some huge muskmelons and also cucumbers growing up the black vinyl coated chain link fence enclosing my potager and it amazes me how those huge melons hang there - I wouldn't have expected that the vines could support that much weight but they do. I plan to hang the vinyl covered chain link along the inside of my wooden privacy fence (I have the side where the fence posts are so that will create a 4" gap between the trellis and the wooden fence pickets) and use that to trellis my crops as everything seems to like growing on it and it blends in well, plus it doesn't rust. I think maybe the vinyl also helps it to not get so hot in the sun. Dawn, I laughed about what you said about my 'for the last time' comment because nobody else believes me either, especially not my son who has done most of the heavy lifting on each of these projects of mine ;) However, I think in a yard this small surely there are only so many ways to arrange raised beds and I think I've tried most of them already :) Each time I learn something though, and I always get something to eat out of the deal, so I guess that's ok. I may have to do this in stages - build new beds along the east fence and the east half of the back fence, then tear out the current potager in the west side of the yard and extend the perimeter beds the rest of the way around the back yard. Then if I decide to later, I can add the two 4'x8' beds in the corners. My yard is so small that I may decide not to add them after all. I have tried the living mulch idea back when you suggested it to me before and it worked amazingly well! I planted sweet potatoes under Baby Bubba okra and it really did well. This year I am growing amaranth for the grain (I have celiac disease and must avoid gluten containing grains) with swiss chard underneath, and it seems to appreciate the partial shade. I like the edging idea and I could really see that working well, and I think it could look attractive as well. To keep the dogs and rabbits out, I've come up with a design that will enable me to hang 8' sections of hog panel along the front, which I will lift off as needed. The horizontal wires are close together at the bottom (and I plan to line the bottom foot or so with 1/2" mesh to keep the rabbits out), but they get wider apart as they go up. I was thinking that I could probably reach through them to harvest tomatoes and other trellised crops, and that front panel could actually serve to hold the tomatoes up. Well it all sounds good in theory but there is nothing like trying it to find out all the flaws in the theory lol!